Marla & Darrell will fulfill one of Darrell's 101 Life Goals-Swim With Great Whites!

When we were engaged, I was challenged to set 101 Life Goals. I took the challenge to heart & worked for nearly 1.5 months to set high level goals in 5 areas of life: Social, Physical, Financial, Spiritual & Mental.

Before we married I went abalone diving off Salt Point near San Francisco with one of my college buddies.

There was a storm coming in, the water was choppy & murky with a local sea lion population; classic feeding conditions for the local Great White sharks. Wearing my black wet suit, hoody, mask/snorkel & armed only with an abalone pry bar & dive knife strapped to my left leg I continued to dive for tasty abalones.

It was getting towards dusk & I wanted to make one more dive near a series of large pillar rocks about 50 yards offshore.

I took a deep breath & submerged into the inky twilight of the Pacific & began to push myself down the side of the rock seeking abalone. Suddenly something told me to look towards the deep ocean; I turned to see a Great White coming at me & the last moment vier off & stop his attack on me!

The shark was HUGE! Easily 15+feet long I only caught a glimpse of his massive body as he turned back into the dark waters below me.

In sheer terror, I blew out all my air as I screamed underwater & I rocketed to the surface. I quickly scrambled to the top of the rock to get out of the water; in doing so I cut my right hand.

Now it was getting late, my hand was cut & bleeding & I was stuck on top of a rock with the tide coming in & a shark in the water. What made the situation worse was I couldn't see the dorsal fin & hence didn't know where he was. If I could at least see the fin I could keep track of him.

I frantically yelled to my buddy Dean, 'Shark! Shark! There's a big, freakn' shark in the water!' He was too far away to hear me. Now the situation was worse that before. I had a friend & a shark in the water.

I had to make a quick decision: stay on the rock & wait which meant that I would be safe but Dean could be attacked or, I could jump back into the water & haul tail to the shore & get Dean's attention to get him out of the water. But, this latter decision meant that I had to get back into the water with a big shark in the area. I had to fight my basic, primal personal survival instinct to save myself at the expense of someone else.

Quickly my thoughts turned to my own mortality & to the eternities. There on that rock I knelt & said the shortest, most sincere prayer of my life...

"Heavenly Father there's a shark in the water, my hand is cut & bleeding & I need you to help me swim very fast; please help me swim very fast! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!"

And with that, I took one final look around me & literally made the biggest leap of faith I've ever made.
As soon as my body hit water I exploded in a fury of flailing arms & legs tearing through the water like a torpedo. Those 50 yards were the longest I've ever swam.
As I swam with all my strength I fought visions of the shark exploding up under me like they did the to local seal population; I fought this vision over & over as I neared the shore scrambling to the beach with the same speed as I had swam; half expecting the shark to follow me onto land!

I ran to where Dean was diving & pantomimed 'DORSAL FIN' & 'SHARK BITE' to alert Dean to get out of the water. Dean swam over (rather slowly, apparently unconcerned) and got out. We pulled off our wet suits & drove back to our place in Napa but that singular experience changed me. I learned that man is nothing.
That shark could have literally bit me in half without a thought & in a moment I'd have been gone & no one would have known what happened. I wasn't even a threat to him; I was in his element.
Over the years I've asked myself why did the shark not finish the attack? Was I too close to the rock to effect an attack? Did it 'realize' I wasn't a seal & hence not worth its time? Question after question, after question.

Since that incident needless to say I've been fascinated by Great White sharks. Due to this fascination one of my 101 Life Goals was cage dive with Great White Sharks in the same area where I first met that behemoth. This October 4th Marla will be with me as I fulfill Life Goal number 19: Swim with Great White sharks & see a 20 footer come in & bang my cage!

I will post all the pictures here on our family blog so stay tuned.